The eating habits of a pregnant mother may influence her unborn child's chances of developing Alzheimer's later in life, according to new research.

Scientists at the University of Southampton found that the offspring of mice who were fed a high-fat diet were more likely to experience impaired blood flow in the brain, a symptom that is linked to the disease.

A high fat diet meant that the offspring were less able to rid themselves of harmful sticky beta amyloid proteins, the accumulation of which is a key feature of Alzheimer's.

The new research suggests that eating fatty foods while pregnant can lead to an increased chance of Alzheimer's disease afflicting the unborn child in later life

As the study was originally performed on mice, it will need much more work to make a fuller picture of how diet effects unborn children, researchers say.

However, the researchers believe that they are close to developing important theories on the implications of diet on children in the womb and their future health.

Lead scientist Dr Cheryl Hawkes, from the University of Southampton, said: 'Our preliminary findings suggest that mothers' diets during pregnancy may have long-term effects on their children's brains and vascular health.

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'We still need to do more work to understand how our findings translate to humans, but we have known for some time that protecting mothers' health during pregnancy can help lower the risk of health problems for their children.

'Our next step will be to investigate how our findings could relate to Alzheimer's disease in people.

'We hope these results could provide a new lead for research to understand how to prevent the disease.'

Research found that the more fatty foods a person eats the more likely it is that there will be a build up of sticky amyloid proteins, a common biological feature associated with Alzheimer's

The research was presented at the Alzheimer's Research UK conference taking place in Oxford this week.

Dr Eric Karran, director of research at the charity, which funded the study, said: 'It's important to remember that this research is in mice, but these results add to existing evidence suggesting that the risk of Alzheimer's disease in later life is affected by our health earlier in life.

'This study goes one step further by suggesting that what happens in the womb may also be important.

'We're pleased to have funded this research, which has shed new light on the complex picture of Alzheimer's risk.

'Alzheimer's is a complicated disease and it's likely that our risk is affected by a number of different genetic and environmental factors.

'Research to understand these factors can help equip us to take steps to prevent the disease, but in the meantime, evidence suggests we can lower our risk by eating a healthy, balanced diet, doing regular exercise, not smoking and keeping our blood pressure and weight in check.'